The Benefit of
Value Driven Practices
June 28, 2004
Values are not practices. A practice is an
activity or action. A practice that works in one situation may
not work in another because practices apply to specific
situations. Because my second son, David, lived to be with
people, sending him to his room when he misbehaved resulted in a
transformed attitude on his part. When I tried that same form of
discipline with my third son, Paul, it didn’t work at all. Why?
Because Paul loved sitting at his desk and playing computer
games. Make no mistake about it, we’ve got to adapt our
practices to the various challenges we face.
But let’s look a bit deeper. As I’ve discussed
before, values aren’t principles either. A principle is an
external truth that is as reliable as a physical law. A value is
a principle we’ve internalized and made our own. For instance, a
principle of life might say, “Exercise and healthy eating
produce a strong body.” Everybody would say that principle is
true. But those who watch what they eat and exercise regularly
have made that principle a value. When we internalize a
principle we demonstrate that we “value” the principle.
Ultimately, we want our behavior and decisions to be based on
values not circumstances or feelings. We want to internalize
God’s word and so value its principles that they drive our
actions.
King David demonstrated value driven behavior in
Psalm 15. If you take a few minutes and read the psalm you
notice that David said the person who enjoys the presence of God
and lives a blameless life is the one who “speaks the truth from
his heart” (vv. 1-2). Because he values truth in his heart, his
words express truth. Because he values kindness, “he does his
neighbor no wrong” (v. 3). Because he values honesty he “keeps
his oath even when it hurts” (v. 4). Because he values justice
he “does not accept a bribe against the innocent” (v. 5).
Value driven men reap a great benefit from God.
David said they “will never be shaken.” The more we allow
biblical values to drive our practices, regardless of what may
happen around us, we can live with the confidence that the right
principles have shaped our values and guided our decisions. That
confidence will give us emotional and spiritual stability. It
will enable us to lead others in a way that honor God and
strengthens our influence for his kingdom.
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